


Honorable Ned Stark

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 14:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the ASOIAF kinkmeme.</p>
<p>Prompt: Instead of the usual Robert wishing he made Ned marry Cersei and taking Catelyn for himself, can I get Cersei wishing she put her foot down and married Ned?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honorable Ned Stark

Cersei Baratheon ( _Lannister, Lannister_ ; she does not bear Robert’s children and she does not bear Robert’s name) does not like the North. Winterfell might not be as cold as she had anticipated, but it is not fashionable and it is not comfortable and she does not want to be here. And she feels sorry, so very _sorry_ for Catelyn Tully who is stuck here, forever, Lady Stark, Eddard Stark’s wife.

Cersei does not like Ned Stark. He is honorable, too honorable, and he knows it, and it is annoying. The Honorable Ned Stark – the title suits him better than the “Lord” that he has long come into as his actual title.

Honorable Ned Stark and Not-as-pretty-as-she-used-to-be Catelyn Stark, Lord and Lady of Winterfell, the most boring and self-righteous couple in the world. Cersei wants to push them away every time they approach her, but not as much as she wants to roll her eyes at them and tell them that they are ridiculous and that it is not in good taste to be as loving with each other as they are. Love is for when a couple is alone, perhaps, but certainly not for when they are before an audience. And Ned Stark is always touching his wife: her hair, her waist, her shoulder…Cersei is positive she’s seen his palm on her arse, even, and really, Lord Stark, do try to be more discreet.

She thinks the way that Catelyn Stark touches him in return bothers her even more. The easy affection in each look Lady Stark gives her husband; the careless teasing; the playful touches. The Stark direwolf is a dangerous and fearsome beast, but the Tully woman is so completely unafraid of her husband that Cersei is sure she has never felt his claws.

The sigil of House Baratheon is a stag, and stags do not normally harm human women, but it seems that Robert was not paying attention during that lesson.

Cersei does not like to let her weaknesses show, or even to dwell on them too long – weaknesses that bother you become weaknesses doubled – but sometimes she feels truly cheated by her marriage. Robert was the handsome, dashing victor of the rebellion, and he chose her to be his queen. And now he is a fat drunk who lies with whores and hits his wife in the face, never mind that he always uses an open hand. Whereas Ned Stark was the quiet, unsure second son, Hoster Tully’s consolation prize when the Stark worthy of his eldest daughter was killed at the Mad King’s court. And now…

It is true that Lord Stark is not as trim as he was in his younger years, as Robert was so kind as to point out upon their arrival, but he wears the extra weight well and he is still a fit man. He still gives a damn. And though he has drunk far less ale tonight than Robert he is clearly drunker, because for him drinking heavily is not an ordinary night.

It is interesting to watch Lord Stark affected by drink, reflects Cersei as she watches their host. He is less solemn than usual, less quiet, less restrained. He is affectionate with his children – that is another thing about Lord Stark, he shows a keen interest in and love for his children, even the ones that do not look like him and are not his heir. But moreover he is affectionate with his wife, even dragging her out of her chair for a turn around the dance floor. Robert has told her that Ned Stark hates to dance, but there is nothing he would not do for Catelyn. That Robert can tell her this without even the slightest hint of irony is another reason Cersei hates him.

She receives several invitations to dance herself, all of which she politely declines so as to watch Lord and Lady Stark. She is a skilled and graceful dancer; he is a little more awkward and a little less sure on his feet. It is no wonder he hates to dance. And yet he is smiling, and then he is chuckling, and Lady Stark’s hands cling to him, her long red hair fanning out behind her as her husband twirls her around. It would look dangerous if it were not obvious to everyone who has ever met Lord Stark that he will not let his lady fall.

On the rare occasion when Robert does try out his wife’s bed, when he curses her for being cold and unresponsive, it is compared to Catelyn Stark that she is always found lacking. Cersei does not think Ned Stark is an indiscreet man, but servants talk and Robert has heard and he throws it in his wife’s face that Catelyn Stark warms her husband’s bed nearly every night, that she has been seen kissing her husband all about the castle, that she is devoted to his happiness and satisfaction.

_Well, of course she is_ , Cersei wants to scream in irritation. He is gentle with her; he is loving with her; and there is talk among the maids, too – that should the rooms adjacent to Lady Stark’s need cleaning after nightfall one is sure to hear the Lady of Winterfell cry out her pleasure as her husband attends to her. And only to her, for that matter. For all her youngest brother annoys her, he is useful, and Cersei has learned through Tyrion, and Tyrion through his whores, that the Lord of Winterfell is never to be found at any of the surrounding brothels.

He is not a drunk; he does not hit; he does not visit whores; he makes her come. No wonder Lady Stark loves her husband. No wonder Lady Stark is always pregnant.


End file.
